No matter how clean, organic, and healthy you eat, if your body isn’t able to digest, absorb, and process essential nutrients properly, you are not benefitting from your efforts.
To do this, your stomach needs to fully digest, your intestines need to completely absorb, and your liver needs to properly process the food you eat.
One of the simplest ways to correct and improve any issue you may have with the digestive process is through nutritional testing.
If a weakness is found in a specific organ, nutritional supplementation can be added to your diet to improve the digestive process and in turn, help you benefit from your wise choices.
Community News
Hailey’s Horoscope
On March 21, the New Moon in Aries arrives, with Aries being the first zodiac sign. Mixed with the New Moon energy, this makes for a very big opportunity for NEW BEGINNINGS. The potent Aries vibe gives you a chance to make those important personal changes in your life. It’s the perfect time to focus on your personal goals, all while being authentic, assertive, and confident. This is your opportunity to move forward in new beginnings towards your goals through experience and action!
Good Nutrition & Digestion = Good Health
No matter how clean, organic, and healthy you eat, if your body isn’t able to digest, absorb, and process essential nutrients properly, you are not benefitting from your efforts.
To do this, your stomach needs to fully digest, your intestines need to completely absorb, and your liver needs to properly process the food you eat.
One of the simplest ways to correct and improve any issue you may have with the digestive process is through nutritional testing.
If a weakness is found in a specific organ, nutritional supplementation can be added to your diet to improve the digestive process and in turn, help you benefit from your wise choices.
Health Consequences
Organ Damage: Compared to men, women experience significantly shorter intervals between their first use of alcohol and onset of significant alcohol-related problems. Whereas men usually experience alcohol-related problems after 10-12 years of use, women on average experience problems within 5-7 years of use. This accelerated course is known as “telescoping”.
Breast Cancer: Alcohol consumption is consistently associated with the risk of breast cancer. Alcohol increases the levels of estrogen and other hormones associated with hormone-receptors. Alcohol also may increase breast cancer risk by damaging DNA in cells. Researchers now state “there is no safe amount of alcohol” and women who have a history of breast cancer in their family should limit their use to 1-2 drinks per week, while women who have or have had breast cancer should not be drinking at all.
Liver Damage: Women are more affected by liver disease from alcohol, have an increased prevalence of acute liver failure, and suffer liver disease such as hepatitis and cirrhosis (scarring) of the liver. Statistics indicate there is an uptick of “epidemic proportions” of women 18-25 diagnosed with liver disease – thinking this is a disease of older alcoholics. Many young people have no knowledge of alcohol’s effect. Unfortunately, the diagnosis of cirrhosis of the liver may not be made until autopsy.
The Brain: Women have received little attention in the research to date. Evidence now indicates that many of the behavioural aspects of the effect of alcohol progress more rapidly among women than among men, and women are more vulnerable to alcohol-induced brain damage than men. Using MRI images, researchers found that regions of the brain involved in coordinating multiple brain functions are significantly affected. Alcohol affects short-term memory functions, so information is not transferred to long-term memory banks. It is not a question of not remembering – the information is not available to retrieve. Alcohol also affects the nerve cells in the brain, interfering with the cells’ function and how they communicate with other cells.
Biological & Metabolic Differences Body Water
Women’s bodies contain proportionately 25% less water than men. Alcohol goes through body water to every cell of the body, and collects in organs with higher concentrations of water, such as the brain, liver, heart, colon, pancreas, and kidneys, resulting in these organs being more vulnerable to differences in body weight.
LESS ENZYMES IN THE STOMACH, SMALL INTESTINE AND LIVER
Women differ in their ability to metabolize and absorb alcohol compared to men. The difference is due to the variations in the amount of the enzyme responsible for metabolizing alcohol. Women have less of the enzyme in their stomach, small intestine and liver. As 30% of the alcohol is absorbed through the stomach directly into the bloodstream, this means that alcohol goes through the bloodstream to all cells of the body less diluted and in higher concentrations.
Health Alert Update
The International Agency for Research has for decades classified alcohol as a #1 preventable carcinogen to humans, behind tobacco and asbestos – especially for women. The Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse (CCSA) drastically reduced what is considered low-risk drinking from 10 drinks a week for women and 15 for men to new proposed low-risk guidelines of 1-2 drinks a week for both men and women.
The CCSA acknowledges that substance abuse is an important consideration for all women, and that women’s health includes all women, not just cisgender. Women are particularly susceptible to alcohol-related harms due to sex (biological and gender) and social factors (which still judge alcohol and drug abuse in women more harshly than men).
Hailey’s Horoscope
On March 21, the New Moon in Aries arrives, with Aries being the first zodiac sign. Mixed with the New Moon energy, this makes for a very big opportunity for NEW BEGINNINGS. The potent Aries vibe gives you a chance to make those important personal changes in your life. It’s the perfect time to focus on your personal goals, all while being authentic, assertive, and confident. This is your opportunity to move forward in new beginnings towards your goals through experience and action!
Mood Disorders
If you have a mood disorder, your general emotional state or mood is distorted or inconsistent with your circumstances and interferes with your ability to function. You may be extremely sad, empty or irritable (depressed), or you may have periods of depression alternating with being excessively happy (mania). Anxiety disorders can also affect your mood and often occur along with depression. Mood disorders may increase your risk of suicide. Some examples of mood disorders include:
Major depressive disorder — prolonged and persistent periods of extreme sadness
Bipolar disorder — also called manic depression or bipolar affective disorder, depression that includes alternating times of depression and mania
Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) — a form of depression most often associated with fewer hours of daylight in the far northern and southern latitudes from late fall to early spring
Cyclothymic disorder — a disorder that causes emotional ups and downs that are less extreme than bipolar disorder
Premenstrual dysphoric disorder — mood changes and irritability that occur during the premenstrual phase of a woman’s cycle and go away with the onset of menses
Persistent depressive disorder (dysthymia) — a long-term (chronic) form of depression
Disruptive mood dysregulation disorder — a disorder of chronic, severe and persistent irritability in children that often includes frequent temper outbursts that are inconsistent with the child’s developmental age
Depression related to medical illness — a persistent depressed mood and a significant loss of pleasure in most or all activities that’s directly related to the physical effects of another medical condition
Depression induced by substance use or medication ― depression symptoms that develop during or soon after substance use or withdrawal or after exposure to a medication.
Source: Mayo Clinic
Groups and Workshops
The Mood Disorders Association of Manitoba offers the following groups and workshops, in-person or online: mixed, soul sisters, youth, friends and family, men’s, unloading zone, women’s, M.A.D. Wednesdays, M.A.D. Camp, bipolar, senior’s tea and tales, depression and anxiety, disordered eating and body image, self-esteem, power to parent, letting go, get better together, men’s exchange, baby blues and better days and postpartum.
Helping People, Help Themselves
The Mood Disorders Association of Manitoba is a self-help organization dedicated to providing support, education and advocacy for those living with a mood disorder, co-occurring disorders or other mental health illnesses. We increase public awareness about mood disorders and empower people to develop hope and recovery. Help yourself or those you love in hope and recovery from mood disorders.
Why You Should Take a Probiotic
Probiotics are a type of organism that can help boost the number of beneficial bacteria in your gut. Historically, people had plenty of probiotics in their diets from eating fresh foods from good soil and by fermenting foods to keep them from spoiling. Today, however, because of refrigeration and agricultural practices, much of our food contains little to no probiotics in the name of sanitation, which is why high-quality supplements are recommended. What happens when you start taking probiotics? Probiotics benefits have been proven effective in supporting immune function, reducing inflammation, promoting healthy digestion, managing inflammatory bowel disease, as well as maintaining beautiful skin.
